Skagway

After a peaceful night without a single interruption from the bears, or from anything else for that matter, I packed up and headed back into the town of Skagway, but I had a small problem! I’d awoken refreshed and without even the hint of back pain that I usually have until I’ve done a few stretches. So of course I didn’t get around to doing those stretches. I had a nice icy cold shower under a tree as I often do when there are no facilities on site. Then whilst preparing my breakfast tea and pancakes my back just went rigid; a spasm such as I haven’t had for many years and in those days of course I had Allie to sort it out for me, this time I was on my own. The packing was a slow and rather painful event; I felt about 90! Amazingly once on the bike and moving it was OK, although shoulder checks were a bit of a challenge. As there was precious little traffic around that shouldn't be an issue. By the time I had ridden the 9 miles of dirt road back to Skagway it had eased slightly so I parked up and had a wander.

Skagway is a delightful little town, founded in the days of the Klondike Gold Rush, with some of the original buildings still preserved and new ones being in a suitable matching style. I gave the town a definite feel of a frontier town… well apart from the cruise liner parked at the end of the main street and the hundreds of passengers milling around. Oh Well you can’t everything. To be fair, it was at least hundreds rather than thousands of passengers as one gets with the larger boats which totally overwhelms the smaller ports at which they call. The town even had a small theatre with three showings a day of an old time historic play about the town advertised by a couple in full traditional western dress stood by the entrance and a scantily clad young lady hanging out of an upstairs window with one stockinged leg cheekily cocked through the window; I reluctantly passed! I tried to buy a sticker for my panniers saying “Skagway” but boy, did I have to hunt for it. Someone is definitely missing a business opportunity there. I eventually tracked one down and it now lives happily on my pannier.

Returning to my the bike I had something of a crown around it and spent the next hour talking to people about my trip and of course about Sam, which was what stopped them in the first place. Then just as I though I’d make my getaway along comes Ron! Ron gives his address on his card as S/V Ferrous, Portsmouth New Hampshire, USA, as he has spent a good few years sailing around various parts of the world on said boat.However, he had just arrived in Skagway having Kayaked up from Vancouver. Have a look at a map because that is one hell of a paddle! Previously he had kayaked the entire length of the Yukon river and cycled right over the Alaska Highway from God knows where and then around Alaska; and you though my tripm was tough… I’m just a beginner! Eventually I tore myself away and hit the road that I had arrived on back to Whitehorse but with many, many more photo stops on the way up.  

Whereas on the way down to Skagway I had turned off just before the town this time I headed for the centre. It was pleasant enough, but really just another clone town with the same old, same old… I’m sure you get the picture. It’s quite frightening in a way as the UK seems very much to be following the North American trend of moving all the stores out of the town centres, which of course leaves nothing but coffee shops and hotel in them, so absolutely nothing of interest to stop for. I did find the SS Klondike, a stern wheeler which used to ply these treacherous waters right up until 1957 But other than that and a canoe hire place which in view of my back troubles, I felt it prudent to give a wide berth to, there was little of note, so I beat a retreat to a camp ground I had spotted on the way in just on the edge of town. Roberts Services was a slightly unusual camp ground as it appeared to cater predominantly for backpackers and hippies… I fitted in just fine!  They also had really good very hot showers which sorted my back out nicely, and sold great muffins and coffee at silly cheap prices, so guess what I had for breakfast next morning. Oh, and the staff were wonderful too.

 Next morning it was back to the Alaska Highway heading further north. I was once more in Yukon as whilst Skagway itself is in Alaska, most of the rest of it’s peninsular is in Yukon. It get very confusing as not only do you seem to pop back and forth from US to Canada, you also keep changing time zones by an hour! My ultimate destination was still Fairbanks but as that was still over a 1000 km north it wasn't going to happen in a day and as it turned out I didn't even get close!